


The Spirit of Giving

by sdwolfpup



Category: due South
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Presents, M/M, implied Fraser/Janet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-01-17
Updated: 2008-01-17
Packaged: 2018-11-06 17:12:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11040630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sdwolfpup/pseuds/sdwolfpup
Summary: It's never the wrong time for schmoopy Ray/Ray Christmas fic, right? RIGHT?





	The Spirit of Giving

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brynnmck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brynnmck/gifts).



> MANY thanks to catwalksalone for answering my unexpected beta plea with enthusiasm and great suggestions. :)

Ray had lost count two malls ago, but he was pretty sure this was the thousandth time he’d heard “Here Comes Santa Claus” since this morning. He was gonna have quite the surprise for Santa if the fat man dared to show up. 

“What about this?” Kowalski was holding up a reindeer dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and looking as disgusted with it as Ray felt. He put the reindeer back on the shelf. “I know, I know. I’m out of ideas, though. Every single store in two-“

“Three.”

“Three malls! Mounties are hard to shop for.”

“You know he doesn’t want anything.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we’re not gonna get him something.” Kowalski scanned the shelves of the Hallmark, while Ray watched Kowalski, admiring the way his legs looked in those jeans.

“You, uh, like what you see?”

Ray looked up into the full force of one of Kowalski’s most inviting grins, and had to shove his hands in the deep pockets of his coat. “Can’t we just get him a memorial ornament or something and get out of here?” Ray asked, hearing the rough plea in his own voice.

“That’s not a very Christmassy attitude, Vecchio.”

Ray leaned in close to whisper in Kowalski’s ear. “It’s not Christmas I’m thinking about right now.”

Kowalski shoved him away with no real force, but when Ray tried to move back in, he shoved him away harder.

Ray raised an eyebrow. “When did you start objecting to public displays of affection?”

“Never. But I think I know exactly what to get Fraser for Christmas.”

Ray paused, suddenly suspicious. “What’re you thinking?”

“Fraser’s all by himself up there in the Great White North, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And he doesn’t need or want any stupid crap from Chicago, right?”

Ray didn’t have a good feeling about where this conversation was going. “Listen, Kowalski,” he said, keeping his voice low, “maybe we shouldn’t talk about this here.”

Kowalski glanced around the quietly chaotic Hallmark store. “I’m not suggesting we kidnap anybody or nothing. I’ve got someone in mind.”

“Some _one_?”

“Yeah” he said, bouncing on his heels. A sign Ray now recognized as ‘wait until you hear this great idea Vecchio, it will in no way go badly except for the part where it always does.’ “When you were, uh, you know, not you, there was this lady that came into town. Janet something-or-other. We’ll have to look her name up in the files. You shoulda seen Fraser with her, man. He was bowled over.”

Ray blinked. “Wait, you want to set Fraser up with a woman?”

“Yeah. You know: breasts, long hair, soft skin? It hasn’t been _that_ long. What did you think I was suggesting?”

“I thought,” Ray dropped his voice to a whisper, “I thought you were saying _we_ should go up to Canada. And, you know, Fraser doesn’t swing that way.” Ray knew, too, that they’d both learned that lesson the hard way: hurtling themselves against the Mountie’s polite wall. At least Ray had done it here in Chicago; Kowalski had had to go all the way up to the ass-crack of Canada to figure it out.

“Maybe we could convince him - show up with ribbons tied around our-“

“Don’t finish that thought. There are children around.”

“Necks,” Kowalski said, grinning. “I was gonna say necks.”

“Sure you were.” Ray slid back in close. “So tell me about this Janet lady on the way home,” he murmured, tugging a willing Kowalski out of the store.

**********

Two days – and a long, slow fuck in the shower – later, Ray was still unconvinced. “But what if she’s still married?”

“There’s no way. That guy was a total loser, she wouldn’t have stayed with him.”

“But what if-”

“Vecchio. Geeze, you’re like my mother with the worrying. You’re like _your_ mother.”

That shut Ray up. He gestured at the phone with what he hoped was a bland, devil-may-care expression. “Then give her a call, smart guy.”

Kowalski already had the phone in his hand and was dialing the number they’d managed to get from local Whitefish police. There was a pause while, Ray assumed, the phone rang.

“Hey, is this Janet Morse?” Kowalski waggled his eyebrows at Ray. “Great! This is Detective Kowalski, uh, Vecchio. I mean, Ray, Fraser’s partner in Chicago?” He frowned a little. “Yeah, that guy. Listen, I’m calling about Frase- no, no he’s fine, nothing like that. It’s just … look, are you single?”

Ray covered his face with his hands and groaned. Oh yeah. This was going to go great.

“What? No, no way, Jose, that is not what I wanted; I’ve got a partner. No, not Fraser. Look, would you stop asking questions – I’m the one that called _you_! Sorry.” Kowalski looked contrite and that piqued Ray’s interest. This Janet lady must be something. “Let me start over. See, uh…” his gaze darted to Ray, a question, and Ray nodded. “It’s kind of a long story, but Fraser’s first partner, uh, cop partner, I mean, not partner-partner, and I, we’re worried about our buddy and I know he really liked you and all and he’s going to be down here in Chicago for Christmas” - that wasn’t technically true since they hadn’t actually convinced Fraser to come down yet, but Ray felt pretty confident he could get Fraser here – “and we thought it’d be cool if you two accidentally ran into each other again.”

There was a longish pause, and Kowalski said, “You still there? Ok, so, what do you think? My partner and I could watch your kids- Oh. Well, that kinda works out then.” Ray held his breath. Then Kowalski whooped and his face split with a smile. “Great! That’s great! Call my cell when you get in and we’ll get it all set up.” While Kowalski rattled off the information and hung up, Ray stood. He couldn’t believe it actually _worked_.

“She must be perfect for Fraser if she agreed to this crazy idea. ‘Are you single?’” Ray shook his head. “That was a worse plan than _Ghostbusters_.”

“I didn’t know what to say! Besides, it doesn’t matter how, just that she’s gonna be here. Gets in on the twenty-fourth since she has to drop her kids off with her ex anyway. Now we just have to get Fraser to come down for Christmas, too.”

Ray reached past Kowalski and picked up the phone. “Leave that one to me.”

“You’re gonna use Ma, aren’t you?”

Ray grinned. “Damn right. It’s about time I got to use Fraser’s own guilt tricks on him for a good cause.” Dialing the number from memory, Ray waited through the familiar pause, the low buzz, and the discordant ringing of the phone. He imagined the RCMP outpost Fraser was currently stationed at only had one of those rotary phones, maybe even the ones where you had to call an operator to get an outside line. He smirked at Kowalski while he was waiting for someone to pick up, and Kowalski smirked back, then leaned towards him, all his heat and energy enveloping Ray, and started nibbling gently on Ray’s ear. Someone answered the phone.

“Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Aklavik Detachment, Corporal Benton Fraser speaking. How may I assist you?”

“Benny!” Ray choked out. He elbowed Kowalski away from him and focused.

“Ray,” Fraser said, and there was warm pleasure in his voice. “It’s very good to hear from you. How are you doing?”

“I’m good Benny, I’m real good. How’s the frozen North?”

“Well, frozen actually,” Fraser said, and Ray laughed low. “And also quite busy.” In the background, Ray could hear a chair being scraped back. “We’ve had quite the run on illegal trapping in the last month; we believe it to be a ring of interconnected hunters.” Fraser kept talking about the case, expounding on every last detail, but Ray was having trouble paying attention. Kowalski had moved around behind him and slipped his arms around Ray’s waist, which had seemed innocent enough. But now he was unbuttoning Ray’s shirt while also taking advantage of Ray’s neck, and that was causing Ray’s attention – and blood – to head straight down.

Ray tried to wriggle out of Kowalski’s grip, while still giving Benny his requisite “uh-huh”s to show Ray was at least _trying_ to listen. But Kowalski’s arms were too tight, and his lips felt too soft and wet to make much of an attempt at escape. So Ray let Fraser talk, and he let Kowalski strip off Ray’s shirt, and he hoped to God that Fraser finished before Kowalski did.

Kowalski was tugging gently at Ray’s nipple through the cloth of his undershirt when Fraser finally ended his story. “That sounds like quite a case, Benny. I know you’ll get him, though. You always do.”

“Thank you, Ray,” he said, and Ray could hear Fraser’s smile. Kowalski started unbuckling Ray’s pants.

“Uh, listen,” Ray said, needing to hurry things along. “Kowalski and I-“

“Hi Fraser!” Kowalski said somewhere from around Ray’s belly button.

“We want you to come visit for Christmas.”

“Ray, you know I’d love to, but I really can’t leave everyone understaffed.”

“Aw, come on, Benny. Ma’s been nagging me about it for two weeks straight. It’s been almost a year since you were last down here and she’s worried you’re wasting away without anyone to cook for you.”

“Maggie is a fine cook, Ray, and I handle my share of meals.”

“Fraser.” He had to grit that out between clenched teeth, because Kowalski had yanked Ray’s underwear down and was now hovering much too close to Ray’s dick without _doing_ anything.

But it seemed to help: Fraser was quiet and then said, “I suppose there’s enough time to request someone else to come and fill my spot for at least a week, if not two.”

“That’s the spirit, Benny!” Kowalski’s hand was trailing up the inside of Ray’s leg now, tickling him and causing him to shiver.

“And I know Diefenbaker would love to see everyone again.”

“He’s probably missed the food, too.”

“That’s probably been good for him. My word, are you all right, Ray?”

Ray bit back the moan that had started when Kowalski had suddenly wrapped his hand around Ray’s balls. “Uh, yeah, yeah, fine. Just-” Ray’s brain was shorting out, and Kowalski’s hot breath on his cock wasn’t helping at all. “I’m fine. So you’ll be here?”

“Yes, Ray. I will. I look forward to seeing you all.”

“Yeah. Us, too, Benny.”

“I can even bring some foods that the Inuit traditionally use in their Christmas celebrations.”

“Great, great,” Ray said, desperate to get off the phone before he did something he wouldn’t be able to lie about. “Just give us a call when you’ve got your flight info and I’ll pick you up.” Kowalski was sucking Ray down hard now, and Ray was sure Fraser could hear every bit of it. Perversely, that just made Ray harder. “Say hi to Dief for me. Take care of yourself. See you soon!” he gasped out before slamming the phone down, just barely hearing Fraser’s startled, “Goodbye, Ray.”

Ray grabbed Kowalski’s head and held on as he came, groaning as he let go, let Kowalski have all of him. When Ray was done and reduced to panting, Kowalski licked the head of Ray’s dick clean and grinned up at him.

“I hate you,” Ray said, breathing hard.

Kowalski stood, all confidence and eager fight. “Why don’t you come prove it to me?” he taunted, heading for their bedroom. Ray almost beat him to the door.

**********

Ray wasn’t nervous about the whole “setting Fraser up” plan until it was way too late to back out. They’d picked Fraser up at the airport on the 23rd with huge hugs and lots of catching up, and he’d been settled on the couch of Ray and Kowalski’s apartment for the night when Ray turned to Kowalski in bed and said, “I don’t think we should do this.”

Kowalski, who was already half-asleep, just grunted.

“Are you listening to me?”

“Do I have a choice?” Kowalski muttered. “It’s fine, Vecchio, don’t sweat it.”

“It’s been a few years. They could hate each other. What if Fraser has a girlfriend and he just hasn’t told us about her?”

“Hey,” Kowalski was looking at Ray now, his face mostly shadowed by the dim light coming through the window. “It’ll be okay. We’re not forcing them together. We’re just arranging a chance meeting. Easy enough for everyone to back out of, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Ray shifted onto his other side, his back to Kowalski, and felt Kowalski move behind him, then drape his arm over Ray. The weight of it felt good, secure, and Ray wondered how Fraser felt, out there alone on the couch. Even Dief was still in quarantine until tomorrow and as much as Ray liked Dief, he hated to think of Fraser without some sort of companionship. Yeah, Benny had Maggie now and during their twice-monthly phone calls, Fraser would talk about how his co-workers invited him over for curling on the weekend. But that wasn’t the same as having that arm wrapped around him in the night, the warm breath against his neck keeping him calm, making him happy. Ray tugged Kowalski’s arm a little tighter against his side, and smiled when Kowalski sleepily said, “’m gonna need that back in the morning.”

**********

“Janet?” Fraser was staring at a pretty woman with curly black hair, with his mouth hanging open. That seemed like a good sign.

They had arranged the “accidental” meeting at the police department; from what Kowalski had said, it seemed the most likely place for her to be, and it was easy to get Fraser to go to say hi to Welsh. They hadn’t even made it that far, though. Kowalski had called Janet while Fraser was showering, and they’d all somehow run into each other at the doorway to the precinct.

A police officer shoved his way through their little crowd, grumbling about annoying citizens while he wrestled a tough-looking boy in handcuffs through the door.

“Fraser.” Janet Morse was just as open-mouthed as Fraser was. That was a _very_ good sign. Ray shot a look at Kowalski and saw him grinning smugly.

“What are you-” Fraser shook his head, like he was shaking sense back into his own head. “I mean, it’s good to see you.”

“You, too.” Janet sized him up, her dark eyes twinkling. “You look good.”

Fraser blushed. “As do you. Are you … are you here for work?”

“Uh, yeah. The kids are staying with Bradley this Christmas so I thought I’d follow-up some leads.” She glanced at Kowalski and nodded. “Detective.”

“Hey, Janet,” Kowalski chirped. Ray struggled not to roll his eyes. It was a miracle this guy ever got selected for undercover work.

Fraser didn’t seem to be aware of anything but Janet, though, his eyes never leaving her face. “These are my friends; of course, you’ve met Ray before, and this is also Ray.”

“Sounds confusing.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Ray murmured. He shook hands with her, and was startled at how much it was like shaking hands with Fraser – a strong, confident, calloused grip that somehow put him right at ease. Ray found himself smiling.

“Where’s Diefenbaker?” she asked, her attention already back on Fraser.

“He’s still in quarantine, unfortunately. We’ll need to pick him up later or he’ll sulk the rest of the night.”

Ray liked her when she smiled and nodded. “I have some jerky in the truck. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d be happy to go with you, say hi to him.”

_Oh yeah_ , Ray thought, knowing he was looking just as stupidly smug as Kowalski now. _She’s perfect_.

**********

Hours later, Ray wasn’t sure what had happened except Janet had hung around with them while they made small talk with Welsh, and then somehow she’d whisked Fraser away to go pick up Dief and now Ray and Kowalski were having dinner alone in preparation for midnight mass later that evening with the Vecchios. By the look on both Janet and Fraser’s faces, they wouldn’t be seeing Fraser again until late that night, if at all. Ray grinned to himself.

“So?” Kowalski said around a mouthful of traditional spaghetti. Ray’d had spaghetti for Christmas his whole life, and Kowalski had embraced the idea eagerly when they’d first moved in together, always eating a couple servings full.

“So what?”

“So did I tell you or what?”

Ray took a sip of wine and tried to be annoyed at Kowalski’s gloating, except he _had_ been right - much as it pained Ray to admit it. “She seems pretty good for Fraser.”

Kowalski snorted. “That’s big of you, Vecchio.” He held up a fork. “Yeah, yeah, that’s not the only thing that’s big of you,” he added, putting words to the comeback that had only just started to form in Ray’s head. Kowalski returned to attacking his spaghetti, but he was still grinning around the mouthfuls of food.

Ray gripped his wine glass hard, breathing through the feelings shooting through him, making his heart clench. Ray imagined Fraser sitting down to dinner with Janet in a small cabin in the wilderness, her kids sitting with them, Fraser teasing them and putting them to bed. Ray wanted that for Fraser, but he couldn’t imagine it for himself. Not when he had Kowalski, who pulled Ray close at night, who fought and fucked and flirted with Ray, who knew what Ray was thinking before Ray could even think it. This hadn’t been where Ray had intended to end up, five or ten or even two Christmases ago but now Ray couldn’t stop staring at Kowalski.

“Ray,” he finally said, his voice low. Kowalski looked up, startled. They hardly ever called each other that; just when they _needed_ it, just when it _mattered_. Ray wanted to tell him everything, but he tilted his glass in Kowalski’s direction and smiled soft. “Merry Christmas.”


End file.
